Another World

[Xanthe]

It depends on when they decided what. Sometimes the information for casting is simply deliberately misleading so that storylines don't leak. When Paulina was cast the audience already knew that Felicia and Lucas were looking for their daughter. So maybe they were really casting for Felicia's daughter and changed direction after they cast Cali who looked more like Sandra Ferguson than she did like Felicia. Or maybe they always wanted a love child for Mac and just hedged during casting.

I was looking through the synopses to see if there was any interaction between Paulina and Felicia or Lucas early on and there was none described. The closest she came was all the time she spent with Derek. Maybe her knowing Derek was a vestigial plot from when they intended to make Paulina Felicia's daughter, or maybe it was just a way of giving her a link other than to the Corys.

Ultimately it seems like it was better that Lorna was introduced after Felicia adopted Jenna, so from that perspective I would say the story was not yet ready for Felicia's daughter when Paulina came to town.

I was under the impression that Lorna ("Mavis" during casting) was originally supposed to be a minor role but when they cast Alicia Coppola they seized the opportunity to make her Felicia's daughter. But even if that was also misleading, the time (after Jenna and before Lucas' death) was right.

[j swift]

It's funny you should say that because casting according to ethnic features may be both more expected and valued currently, but that was not always the norm.

Those were different times when soap fans didn't bat an eye that the same year Kristina Wagner was cast as Aztec princess Felicia, we got Finn Carter playing South American Sierra Esteban, and five years later Cali Timmons was hired as the daughter of Maria Hernandez DeSilva.  To be fair, Felicia was also explained to be of Austrian descent.   And, obviously, some people living in South America may have pale skin and blue eyes, but you probably get my point that being blond and conventionally pretty outweighed any concerns about ethnicity at that period in daytime TV.

Edited November 3, 2023 by j swift

[watson71]

Paulina's mother, Maria Hernandez DeSilva, died when Paulina was only about a year old. With no one to care for her, Paulina was taken to the United States where she was placed in various orphanages. Remember they made the connection early on that Paulina and later Hannah Moore's foster mother Marsha Cantrell got them from an orphanage on Gold Street where both Fannie Grady (Felicia) and Derek grew up.  I think initially the intention was to make her Felicia’s daughter, or they threw in a red herring to make the audience think she was Felicia’s daughter.

[Khan]

You mean Judi Evans could have landed on AMC instead of AW?  Damn.  Seeing her on AMC would have been amazing.

[j swift]

Or a Red Swan (IJBOL - a little Bay City humor)...

Edited November 4, 2023 by j swift

[Xanthe]

Absolutely. Although I did start wondering about how the timeline might have been supposed to work if Paulina had been Felicia's daughter. Paulina was old enough to know Derek from foster care. Derek was old enough to have killed Noah Grady when Felicia/Fanny was still around which I didn't think was supposed to have been very long after Felicia had her baby. Would Derek have been young enough to be in foster care at any point with Felicia's daughter? Mac's daughter has room to be a little bit older -- I believe the affair was pre-Rachel so she would presumably be younger than Sandy and older than Amanda.

[Contessa Donatella]

Makes me wonder who she would have been in Pine Valley. So, in July 1991 who appeared there? 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[DeliaIrisFan]

I wonder if AMC wanted Evans to play Gloria?  Or were they already hedging their bets for a Natalie recast at that point, instead of offering Kate Collins the moon to stay?

[Soaplovers]

It seemed as though 1991 had three characters that were recast during major story (Vicky/Marley, Paulina, and Grant).

Now Grant had to be recast, but I often wonder how stories would have been different had Anne Heche and Cali Timmons remained as Vicky/Marley and Paulina.

Cali's Paulina had a manipulative persona while Judi's Paulina was more tough on the outside/soft on the inside.

Anne's Vicky was more crafty while Jenson's Vicky was more chip on her shoulder.... Anne's Marley was more composed while Jenson's Marley was more frantic.

The main things I could think of that wouldn't have changed storywise was that Marley/Jamie wouldnt have broken up (since AH and Russell Todd had chemistry), and I don't think Ryan/Vicky would have had to deal with Grant as a spoiler.  And I think some of the story given to Vicky in terms of Grant would have remained with Paulina.

[Contessa Donatella]

But, Anne Heche didn't even consider a new contract with the show. In her mind acting was a job she did for 4 years & now she was going to Parsons School of Design to start a career & the rest of her life. Someone at the studio gave her a copy of O PIONEERS to read. She was reading it the day her agent called saying that they wanted her immediately for a role with Jessica Lange in ... O PIONEERS. If Anne wasn't someone who could take something like that as a sign, it would have been a close call that she didn't have an acting career. Once she made it to the new set & Jessica Lange was apoplectic over having 8 pages of dialog for the first day ... well, then, the acting bug had her ... finally! She even asked her agent, "Does this mean that I'm an actress?"

Can you imagine if Anne Heche had considered another contract to play the twins again? And, then, what if she'd settled in to make Another World her career? She would've joined the ranks of the multi-year Emmy winners. And, the show, well, it would have had to be richer for her being a part. 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[Xanthe]

I enjoy all of these types of thought experiment and I do wonder about what might have been different. It is interesting though -- Chris Bruno and Jensen Buchanan seem to have been hired around the same time and I wonder if that was driven by casting Jensen or if they would have wanted Dennis as a spoiler for Jamie and Marley regardless. I found Chris Bruno very dull but he was supposed to be more exciting than stodgy Jamie (while I was rooting for Marley to hook up with Byron Pierce instead).

I can sort of see (if I squint) how the same Vicky who was attracted to stodgy Laurence Lau's Jamie could have found Mark Pinter's Senator Grant Harrison appealing. The other day I came across a scene where Jensen's Victoria was giving herself up and returning Kirkland to Grant after having gone missing and it reminded me of the time that Anne's Victoria brought Steven back to Jamie after having run away over Xmas. The difference was that Anne's Vicky was truly somewhat repentant whereas Jensen's Vicky had swapped Kirkland for one of the endless* supply of Miller babies for the Loves to take temporary custody of. 

*Well, one of 2. The child Mikey that Donna and Michael took in and wanted to adopt in 1988 was a Miller, parents Toby and Eve; the one Vicky substituted for Kirkland was Sean Patrick Miller, child of Patrick and Laurie. And there was an unrelated Andrew Miller who raped Courtney Evans and killed Bridget -- I think I had imagined that Fax Newman must have been behind the hospital murders as well but I guess they had to get rid of so many characters in 1995-96 they needed a whole stable of serial killers.)

[chrisml]

Jensen Buchanan was a terrible Marley. It's no wonder they did away with her Marley after a certain point. As terrible as the storyline was, Ellen Wheeler wiped Jensen Buchanan off the screen when she came back towards the end of AW. Perhaps, Jensen Buchanan was good on OLTL (she was disastrous on GH and didn't last long) but I found her a disaster on AW.

[Contessa Donatella]

The only reason they "rested" Marley was because Jensen refused to play her. Now, they could have recast both times when JB went out on maternity leave. Ellen was available & went to the studio both times! To me it was nuts that they insisted on staying with Jensen!!

And, she wasn't long on GH because she was still employed by P&G and acting on ATWT at the same time as she began working at GH. P&G sued her, sued her agent & were suing GH too till they fired Jensen & recast that part. 

Basically JB wanted to quit & stay home & play house & the show - stupidly I believe - wouldn't let her & kept making her offers she couldn't refuse including awful perks that the show really could not afford! 

[chrisml]

If I recall correctly, Buchanan worked on GH after the lawsuit was either settled or withdrawn. She was only recast temporarily, and then Buchanan returned to the part.

[Contessa Donatella]

I have no idea but it was several years before the lawsuit came up in court. So, she was being sued for years. Okay, I've looked it up. As we know the event happened right after AW was ceased. Last day of work there was May 25-ish, 1999.

From my notes: Jensen Buchanan was sued for breach of contract Feb. 11, 2001. Her agent was also named in the suit. And, initially GH was named in the suit until they fired Jensen & hired ??

And, the lawsuit definitely went forward. Was not withdrawn. 

Okay I looked it up & she began to play RN Melissa Bedford on GH in 2001 & exited in 2002.